A series of internal State Department emails obtained by Fox News shows some some of the initial assessments of last month's deadly consulate attack in Libya, including one email within hours of the attack that noted that the group Ansar al Sharia had claimed responsibility.

Ansar al Sharia has been declared by the State Department to be a an Al Qaeda-affiliated group. A member of the group suspected of participating in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi has been arrested and is being held in Tunisia.

The emails obtained by Fox News were sent by the State Department to a variety of national security platforms, whose addresses have been redacted, including the White House Situation Room, the Pentagon, the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence.

Fox News was told that an estimated 300 to 400 national security figures received these emails in real time almost as the raid was playing out and concluding. People who received these emails work directly under the nation’s top national security, military and diplomatic officials, Fox News was told.

The timestamps on the emails are all Eastern Time and often include the subheading SBU…which is shorthand for “Sensitive But Unclassified.”

The first email indicates that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and other personnel were “in the compound safe haven.” Officials later discovered that Stevens and three other Americans had died in the attack.

The first email was sent at 4:05 p.m. ET with the subject line “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack (SBU).”

“The Regional Security Officer reports the diplomatic mission is under attack," the email reads. "Embassy Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four COM personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support.

"The operations Center will provide updates as available.”

The second email came at 4:54 p.m. ET, with a subject line “Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi (SBU)"

“Embassy Tripoli reports the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi has stopped and the compound has been cleared. A response team is on site attempting to locate COM personnel.”

The third email came at 6:07 p.m. ET and was sent to a different email list but still includes the White House Situation Room address and a subject line of “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack (SBU).”

“Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli," the email reads.

It has nothing to do with that. It doesn't matter which clown is elected.

The hyperventillating over this when we still don't know exactly who was responsible and what all happened is absurd.

I made comments to several people after 9/11 happened that we had no idea of what happened so it was premature to say "bomb (countryname here). I feel the same about this.

Aside from that, do you any of you really think this made it to Obama's desk BEFORE the ambassador was killed?

It should have.

If it didn't, that's a systemic procedural failure. That is exactly the kind of thing that should be on his desk immediately as our Commander in Chief. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes before a phone is ringing and he's being roused from whatever he's up to to deal with that situation.

It's sovereign US territory that was under attack abroad.

Do you really think he shouldn't have known about it before the ambassador was killed?

Eh, you probably don't give a shit. Afterall, you're just making whatever excuses you can for this guy. You know as well as I do that he absolutely should have known. You know there's a decent chance that he did know. But you're going to go back whatever version of events ends up coming out, so why bother?

If it didn't, that's a systemic procedural failure. That is exactly the kind of thing that should be on his desk immediately as our Commander in Chief. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes before a phone is ringing and he's being roused from whatever he's up to to deal with that situation.

It's sovereign US territory that was under attack abroad.

Do you really think he shouldn't have known about it before the ambassador was killed?

Eh, you probably don't give a shit. Afterall, you're just making whatever excuses you can for this guy. You know as well as I do that he absolutely should have known. You know there's a decent chance that he did know. But you're going to go back whatever version of events ends up coming out, so why bother?

He did know right away according to Col. David Hunt and on the protocol on when the emergency button is pushed at the compound. Within minutes the whole entire chain of command knows what is going down and the emergency button was pushed right away.

Aside from that, do you any of you really think this made it to Obama's desk BEFORE the ambassador was killed?

I would wager that he was informed immediately after they received the first email in the WH situation room that the consulate was under attack. There is NO WAY that the high brass of the military and intelligence departments would not inform the POTUS. No way whatsoever. If you think otherwise you have no clue how the military and intelligence services work. He knew - guaranteed

__________________"And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there" - George Harrison

I would wager that he was informed immediately after they received the first email in the WH situation room that the consulate was under attack. There is NO WAY that the high brass of the military and intelligence departments would not inform the POTUS. No way whatsoever. If you think otherwise you have no clue how the military and intelligence services work. He knew - guaranteed

Then again he could have been in a fund raiser or on the phone with George Clooney and refused to take the call.....

__________________"And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there" - George Harrison

He did know right away according to Col. David Hunt and on the protocol on when the emergency button is pushed at the compound. Within minutes the whole entire chain of command knows what is going down and the emergency button was pushed right away.

TGI

You're presuming he bothered to take the call.

I'm not willing to make that presumption.

I agree with KCNative - I can't say for a fact that he knew about this before the ambassador died.

But I can say that it doesn't matter. Either scenario is unacceptable for our Commander in Chief.

Ah yes, the infallible Faux news says it went down this way so that's the way happened.

I explained the whole chain of command knew right away because the emergency button was pushed right awy. This coming from state dep't testimony before congress that the rest of the media refuses to report.

the public still doesn't care. Very few of the wingers on my fb feed have mentioned this, and none have more than once.

Right! Got it, No honor or integrity with the WH, Obama, etc to our soldiers and agents ? It would appear this way, I mean if you knew what was happening and call it an attack due to a video to cover your butt due to the lack protecting your own. How would you have liked to been Woods or Doherty on location hearing the refusal for help, stand down! What if it was your son? How would you feel ?

You younger folks just don't get it. As long as Showbama is seen as hip, you hipsters are happy.

But by all means - go ahead and presume he didn't know and explain to me why it's okay for a sitting President and Commander in Chief to not know about an attack on sovereign United States territory within seconds of the attack's beginning.